T H I N K

Wolf argues that the accusations against Assange demean the seriousness of rape. In fact, Swedish law does distinguish among degrees of rape, with Assange being accused on one count of the least grave kind. In a much-cited letter to the Guardian, Katrin Axelsson of Women Against Rape argued that Sweden's low rape conviction rate proved that Assange was being set up—in 2006, she claimed, only six people were convicted out of 4,000 reported. Not so. "I don't know where they got those figures," Amnesty International's Katarina Bergehed told me by phone from Sweden.

My take on the whole Assange issue is that we need to think about ethics, not law. We should give Assange special treatment because he is special, just like we should give refugees special status, people in war, etc.